Laredo mayor: Border investment, immigration reform needed

Updated 12:36 am, Saturday, January 19, 2013

WASHINGTON — Laredo Mayor Raul Salinas said upgraded ports to expedite trade with Mexico and an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws are needed to create a modern border and bolster the economy in both countries.

“Let's be good partners,” Salinas said in an interview during the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which concluded Friday.

“It's important for us that we facilitate trade and do it with the security components that exist,” Salinas said.

Salinas took part in the mayor's conference, and also joined Mayors Greg Stanton of Phoenix and Ken Miyagishima of Las Cruces, N.M., to address opportunities and challenges of the border region during a New Policy Institute panel symposium.

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Border states and cities are urging Congress and the Obama administration to continue funding for personnel and operations along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

“We need the mechanisms, the tools, the infrastructure to move traffic,” Salinas said. “It's all about funding.”

In addition to states and cities, border businesses bracing for proposed federal budget cuts that many fear could bottle up commerce at the land ports, creating backlogs, delays and a loss in trade with Mexico.

Salinas said Laredo processes 40 percent of the daily trade between the United States and Mexico, with nearly 12,000 trucks a day going across its Rio Grande bridges.

The New Policy Institute has proposed a 21st Century Border Initiative that calls on the U.S. and Mexican governments to expedite lawful trade, facilitate travel and enhance information sharing and cooperation to tackle organized crime.

But even proponents of border improvements acknowledge new funds are scarce, and austerity measures could further reduce staffing levels and infrastructure improvements.

Alan Bersin, the Homeland Security Department assistant secretary for international affairs, told U.S. border mayors last year that the number of land ports with Mexico needed to double over the next four decades to handle the growing trade.

And Deputy CBP Commissioner David Aguilar, a Rio Grande Valley native, met with Salinas and other border mayors this week about funding concerns as the Obama administration prepares for budget constraints that could come from a debt-reduction deal with Congress.